Outfielder later expresses remorse for actions

At least the Atlanta Braves are consistent: They DO NOT want to be shown up when someone hits a home run against them. And sometimes, they won't even let you cross home plate.

For at least the third time this season, Atlanta responded quickly and harshly to a celebration by a hitter after a long ball. This time, catcher Brian McCann intercepted the offender, Milwaukee's Carlos Gomez, about 20 feet before the dish and got into his face. Gomez, though, wasn't backing down; he forgot about scoring and decided to inflame the situation.

Naturally, the benches and bullpens emptied. No punches appeared to connect during the melee, but Braves outfielder Reed Johnson nearly decked Gomez after racing out from the dugout. Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman inadvertently elbowed Brewers third baseman Aramis Ramirez in the face.

Gomez has a beef with Atlanta pitcher Paul Maholm, who has hit Gomez twice with pitches in his career. Gomez believes the second HBP, which happened in June in Milwaukee, was on purpose. Gomez, who is now 9-for-20 lifetime against Maholm, swung from his heels at Maholm's first pitch Wednedsday, then watched (and chirped) with satisfaction as the next pitch sailed out to left-center.

"You can see the replay (from June). They hit me for no reason, and I tried to get it back today. It's the only opportunity that I have. That's what I did," Gomez told reporters after the game, a 4-0 Brewers victory.

McCann, Freeman and, eventually, Maholm, all told Gomez he needed to run rather than pose. Gomez stared down Maholm from the time he entered the batter's box and kept up his trash talk as he circled the bases.

Finally, McCann went chest to chest with Gomez and prevented him from crossing the plate, the two trading profanities. As the benches were emptying, Freeman charged in to get at Gomez, who by that time was well-protected by his teammates.

Gomez, Freeman and Braves backup catcher Gerald Laird were all ejected. Umpire crew chief Dana DeMuth told reporters that Freeman was tossed for being "overaggressive" during the fight. Gomez was ejected for pushing Johnson. Laird was run for jawing at umpires after play resumed.

"What we saw out there was the same as we saw (on video). There was nobody else (besides Freeman) that was overly aggressive other than Gomez, of course," DeMuth told reporters.

Gomez never did touch home plate, but umpires ruled that McCann obstructed him and counted the run.

Gomez later apologized, in a series of tweets, for going too far with his response:

I would like to apologize first to the fans, MLB, my teammates and the Brewers organization as well as the Braves organization.